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Tag Archives: blogging

A few of you have noticed that I haven’t been blogging lately. Thanks to those that have taken

When creative slumps attack

the time to say something. I’m encouraged, knowing that I have some sort of audience. It’s not that I don’t want to be creative, it’s just all of the hard work of DOING creative that gets in the way.

I guess you could say I’m in a bit of a creative slump. I relate to Dan Harmon, creator of the sitcom “Community,” who recently blogged about the need for an outside stressor to motivate him in his creative writing pursuits: ” . . . if nobody’s waiting to hear from you, why say anything, if you’re not saying anything, nobody’s listening, slipping you deeper and deeper into a creative coma.”

Dear reader, please don’t think I’m calling you “nobody” or dismissing you as not worth writing for. It’s just that you don’t give me a paycheck. You don’t fire me if I let a deadline slip a few days or months. I’ve made myself the promise that “I’ll write a little something every day” countless times, but it’s just not working. I always peter out. Even though I dream of one day quitting my day job to write funny stuff professionally, I apparently don’t have enough internal motivation to take the small steps necessary to make that happen.

Interestingly, in some areas of my life, I have incredible willpower, and can just pull myself up by my bootstraps and make big changes without requiring external pressure. Eating, for instance. I’ve let myself go a few times, and have put on 20-30 extra pounds. When I decide it’s time, I can instantly start eating better and shed the pounds at will. I can resist desserts and high calorie temptations on my own without any special diet or food overlord. Why don’t I have this kind of self-control when I comes to creative pursuits?

So, writers and creatives, I could use your input here. What keeps you in the game? What tricks have you learned to keep you on task? So far the only ideas I’ve got are:

Be a better person

Quit my job and starve my family until I hit my stride and strike it rich as a sitcom writer

There! I made it all the way to the end of a new post! I shall reward myself with a cookie.